Masked Love
by Speckled.Grey.Phoenix
Summary: A masquarade ball leaves two best friends in love without knowing who they are, HHr
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

Hermione sat at the Griffendor table eating a piece of toast with strawberry jam. She was there early as usual and was always one of the first people to arrive there first. There were a few groggy-eyed students wandering around looking for their tables, despite being half asleep.

An owl came soaring down gracefully from one of the many windows near the top of the ceiling of the great hall. The owl landed softly in front of Hermione with a dull thud. She looked up from her plate and saw it was the usual owl that delivered her the Daily Prophet every morning. Hermione rummaged through her pockets in search of a few coins to give to the tawny owl. In exchange for the paper she gave 5 bronze Knuts to the owl in the little leather pouch dangling from its leg. When she untied the paper the owl gave a hoot in response and leapt up into flight. Before leaving he grabbed a piece of bacon off of Hermione's plate and ate it up before exiting the Great Hall.  
Hermione untied the paper and began to read the front page, _"Wacko Weasleys" _the article title read. Hermione scanned down the page and read the article._"Fred Weasley, 19, and his twin brother George  
Weasley,19, are the joke shop owners extraordinaire!  
They have had nothing but booming business and envious  
competition throughout the year of owning their famous  
joke and gag shop "Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes". They  
soar to the top of the list, even above Zonko's! Their  
mass amounts of unique items and hundreds of new to come have teen witches and wizards around the world crawling back for more…(for the full scoop and an exclusive interview go to page A6)" _

Above the start of the article there was a picture of the twins smiling and winking in their expensive dragon hide jackets, in front of their shop, each holding a pygmepuff in one hand. Hermione turned the page and read the rest of the article as well as the interview on the other page. She finished the whole paper by the time Harry and Ron arrived, dragging themselves to the table. Dropping their bags and themselves at the table they began to load up their plates with a quick hello to Hermione.  
Mostly everyone was in the Great Hall by now and Harry and Ron were usually the last to arrive. "You're unusually early this morning" Hermione said to the two zombies, "Had a rough night?" She added sarcastically. Harry stopped shovelling food into his mouth to answer her. "Yeah that assignment that Snape gave us was a killer! We were up 3 hours after you went to bed finishing it." "First day back and he gives a foot long assignment on the properties of gillyweed I mean give us a break! Who does he think he is?" Ron added, he still had food in his mouth so it was tough trying to decipher what he was saying but Harry and Hermione were used to this by now. "Anything interesting in the paper?" Ron went on after he had finished what he had in his mouth as he looked at the paper that was discarded by Hermione's plate. "There's an article on Fred and Georges joke shop in there that might interest you" Hermione told them and handed them the paper. Harry read it aloud so then they both didn't have to read it and that also gave Ron more time to eat.  
When Harry finished the article he folded up the paper and put it in the middle of the table, and ate the rest of the food on his plate. When he finished all of the food left he made his fork into a pretend microphone and said into it " I am here with Ronald Weasley, brother to Fred and George Weasley successful joke shop owners, so tell me Ron, what is it like to be the brother of such famous and rich people?" He pointed his fork towards Ron and he had to finish what he had in his mouth before responding. "Well its great really, loads of free stuff when I can manage, um and I also find that the girls have an overwhelming attraction to me now than they were before." He was cut off by blatant laughter coming from his two best friends. "What?" He asked them. "I'm sure loads of girls find me very attractive and they would jump at the chance to go out with me." Ron continued. "Well I hate to burst your bubble Gildory Lockhart, but name one girl that thinks your attractive or that would go out with you" Harry said to him using the name of their previously image obsessed defence against the dark arts teacher which every girl would swoon over, including, incidentally their best friend Hermione. "Well…um…uh…I can't think of any right now but come on who wouldn't want to go out with the boy who lived's best friend?" He questioned them. "Ok Ron I'm saying this to you as a total honest, straight up, best friend ok?" Hermione started, Ron nodded his head. "Well the girls would only go out with you to get to Harry." She said. "Ugh I don't believe it how did I ever become friends with you guys, I'm leaving now, good day!" Ron said to them and scooted over a few spaces to the left.  
"PSST Hermione" Harry said to her leaning halfway over the table and motioning for her to do the same. "Ill bet you anything Ron will be back in 5 seconds" and sure enough 5 seconds passed and Ron slid back hastily and said, "You guys win" And then smiled.

"I wonder who the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher is?" Hermione asked the two boys, because it didn't say on their timetables. "I bet it's a Vampire this year" Harry said to them and all three laughed. "Well it could be a merman, we haven't had one of those yet" Hermione said and they all laughed again. As they were walking into the classroom Ron said "With our luck the new teacher will be you know who himself." And once again they all laughed. As they sat down at a three-person group of desks they heard a familiar voice behind them. "Do I look like Voldemort to you?" Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at each other in amazement and then looked behind to see the familiar and shocking color of bubblegum pink hair. "Tonks what are you doing here, are you our new teacher?" Harry managed to say. "The one and only, at your service" Tonks said and bowed to the three. "How did you get the job?" Hermione asked her. "Dumbledore couldn't find anyone else and I also wanted a change from that dreary house so I decided to take up teaching." The auror told them.  
The bell rang a few seconds later and that meant that Tonks had to go to the front and start the lesson. By now everyone was in the classroom, but the bad thing was that they had to share their class with the Slitherens, joy! NOT  
"Ok everyone settle down!" Tonks yelled over the numerous conversations. It took a moment for the class to realize that there was an authoritative figure trying to get their attention, but a few seconds later everyone was hushed and quiet. "Hello everyone I am your new teacher Professor Tonks. How are you all today?" she asked the class but there was no answer, only Malfoy's group snickering in the back corner, with an occasional squeal from Pansy Parkinson. Hermione got fed up by this and motioned for Tonks to look her way. "Your hair, they're staring at your hair" Hermione mouthed to her pointing at her own hair, and right away she got it. "It's my hair isn't it?" she asked the silent class running a hand through her pink spikes. There was no answer. She took out her wand and conjured up a full-length mirror, and began to look at her hair. "Too pink you think?" and before anyone could answer she made a funny expression on her face and her hair changed from short, pink and spiky to shoulder length platinum blonde. There was a gasp in amazement and the whole class was shocked even Draco and his gang. There was a murmur around the class until Dean Thomas, one of the trio's friends asked "UH Professor, how did you do that?" She grinned. "Well I'm a metamorphmagus you see and that means I can change my appearance at will." She answered. Then she clapped her hands together and said, "Now take out a piece of parchment and a quill and I have some notes for you, chop, chop!" There was a rustle of parchment and scratching of quills, the whole class was silent except for a smiling Tonks teaching the lesson.

"WOW I can't believe Tonks ended up as our teacher that's so awesome!" Ron said as they were walking out of the class to the Griffendor table to start Lunch. They found Ginny sitting all alone at the table so they decided to join her and told her all about Tonks. Ginny was thrilled. Tonks was always a source of entertainment at number 12 Grimald place. When Neville, Dean, Seamus and Lavender came to join them Ginny was screaming with joy. "What's floaten' her boat?" Lavender asked Hermione. "Tonks" Hermione replied and Lavender said "Ahhh Tonks". All of them filled their plates and talked about their classes until the end of lunch bell rang.

The Buzz about Tonks spread through the school like a wild fire and whoever hadn't seen her today was itching to see her hair change color. The 8 sat together again and instead of talking about teachers, this time they talked about what they did over summer holidays. As they loaded up on dessert Neville was telling what he did.  
When most people were done eating the food evaporated off the table and Dumbledore stood up from the big table at the front of the hall. He waited for everyone's attention, and sure enough after a few seconds the hall was silent. Dumbledore began to talk. "I trust everyone has had an excellent summer vacation and a wonderful 2 days back at school." He stopped talking for a moment and surveyed the students, pausing for a fraction of a second longer for the trio, knowing that Tonks would excite them. "I have good news however. For every 7th year there will be a grand ball held in two weeks time." The whole hall cheered at this but mostly the girls. They were giggling and screaming to each other, already starting to discuss their dresses and whom they wished to be asked by to the ball. Dumbledore waited for the noise to die down and then continued. "It will be a masquerade ball, so naturally everyone will be wearing masks. There will be an unveiling at midnight. That is all that is needed to be said so with that goodnight" There was a shuffling in the hall and then Dumbledore voice boomed over everyone silencing them for the time being. "I almost forgot, Hogsmade trip next weekend to get those outfits" And then he motioned that it was ok to leave the great hall. Now they were more exited than before, with a Hogsmade trip to look forward to. Harry, Ron and Hermione trudged slowly up the many staircases discussing the ball like the numerous people around them. When they got up to the common room they went slowly to their dorms to get on pyjamas and also to get their books to start on their long and tedious school assignments.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

The week passed on with more homework than ever, the hogsmade trip was looming nearer and everyone was anxious for the ball.  
"Ginny hurry up! I want to get there first before anyone else does" Hermione yelled to her redheaded friend who was lagging behind her and Lavender a considerable amount. They were walking fast to get to the Hogsmade shops first before all the good dresses were gone. "OI! You guys are going too fast, I can't run like that my legs are killing me!" "Fine" Lavender said and her and Hermione waited a few moments for Ginny to catch up. "Ok now can we get a move on?" Hermione asked itching to get to the store. "Geeze Hermione it's just a ball." Ginny said to her and started to jog. "Lets go then"

Meanwhile:  
Harry and Ron were walking out of the Hogwarts grounds and on to the road to Hogsmade. "Why are all the girls so exited for this ball thing, I mean its just a dance" Ron complained to Harry. "I don't know" Harry responded. Both of them had to go to Hogsmade to get their tuxedos and masks to wear. All of the guys were going to wear black tuxes and probably black masks as well, but of course the girls had to get the most fanciest, intricate and most expensive dress as well as an exquisite mask to go with it. It was this fact that Harry and Ron didn't understand.  
Once they got into Hogsmade city, Harry and Ron went down a few side streets and ended up at a mask shop called **_'FACES' _**and under it, it said _'for all your mask needs.' _When they entered the shop an elderly plump lady welcomed them. "She reminds me of my mum" Ron whispered to Harry, and he laughed. "OK dears, what kind of mask are you looking for?" she asked in a kind voice. "Well just plain black ones I guess to match out tuxedoes please." Harry said to her. "Ok sweetheart, just step over here so I can take your measurements" she asked kindly to Ron. He followed her to a stool and she told him to sit down, as she pulled a tape measure out of one of the various pockets in her apron. She tapped the tape measure once with her wand and it sprang up like a snake and coiled itself around Ron's head, and then the other way.  
There were a few more measurements involved and when it was done the tape headed over to the lady and she wrote down the measurements. She told Ron to go get Harry and that's what he did. The same procedure happened with Harry and moments later he was back out at the front of the shop standing with Ron who was looking at an all gold mask. When the plump lady came back from the front room she held two identical black plain masks. "That'll be a sickle each darlings" and they rummaged through their pockets to find enough change to pay her. Once they paid, both of them headed out to find the tux shop.

Meanwhile:  
"Does this dress look good on me Hermione?" Ginny asked stepping out of the change stall. Hermione stepped out of hers and looked at her friend. Ginny was wearing a green long silk dress with a long slit that went down the side of her leg. "OOH I like it. The color goes really well with your hair" Hermione said. Ginny considered this and after a second of looking in the mirror she said, "HMM Lavender what do you think?" Lavender stepped out of her stall in a white off the shoulder long dress. "WOW Ginny! You look really really good!" Lavender said. Ginny's mouth was agape. "Forget about me look at you!" Lavender had a hint of a blush starting to crawl up her face. "You are defiantly getting that dress" Ginny continued "Well we've both decided what we are going to buy, now what about you Hermione?" She said turning to her "We haven't seen you in a dress yet have we Ginny?" Lavender asked. Hermione looked down shyly. "Well I did have one in mind." She said. "Well what are you waiting for get it on and show us!" Ginny said and shooed her into the change room.  
When Hermione came out she looked down at the ground. Her face was as red as Ginny's hair. "Holy Moly" Lavender said, "Hermione you look gorgeous!" Ginny said to her. Hermione blushed more and then turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror again.  
The dress was an all black strapless dress with a corset in the front that had silk strings doing it up. The corset was tight until it reached her hips, showing a bit of her womanly figure and then went into a cascade of black silk and lace. When Hermione turned around to view the back it showed that it went into a very low dip, to the small of her back, and the silk straps that were in the front laced criss-cross all the way up. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she thought herself OK in the dress. "Ok I'm buying it." She decided aloud and then in unison all three went into their separate change rooms and changed into their normal clothes.

When they got out they paid for their dresses and decided to head over to the mask shop.

Back with Harry and Ron:  
Both of them by now had gotten fitted and they had bought their tuxes and they were now heading back to the school. They decided to stop in at Zonko's and HoneyDukes on the way.  
"Hey isn't that Ginny, Lavender and Hermione?" Harry asked. "Yeah I think so." Ron answered looking at the three girls who were up the street. Harry recognised them by Ginny's hair. When the two groups met there was an exchange of hellos. "What have you gotten so far?" Hermione asked her two best friends. "Everything really, we've got the mask and the tux so we're thinking of going to Zonko's or HoneyDukes maybe even stop off at the Three Broomsticks." Harry responded "and you gals?" "Oh we're headed off to the mask shop now, we've got our dresses" Hermione said. "Well when we are done do you want to meet us in HoneyDukes or something and then we can go to the Three Broomsticks?" Ginny proposed. "Sure meet in half an hour then?" Ron responded. They all agreed, and they parted ways.

Half an hour later they met in HoneyDukes and bought some candy. They then went to the Three Broomsticks and bought a couple of rounds of Butterbeers. Neville, Dean and Seamus joined the table and after one more round, this time of fire whisky they headed back to the castle.  
The eight of them spent the rest of the weekend walking the grounds, and just messing around outside. They spent most of the time playing Quiddich, taking turns on Harry's prized Firebolt, except for Hermione.

The week went by without any trouble until the last class of the day of the ball, which was incidentally Potions, which spells trouble.  
The Trio, plus Neville, Lavender, Dean and Seamus were sharing a table in the Potions classroom which was with the Slitherens. Snape was being more cranky than usual because he had to be one of the chaperones to the ball.  
The trouble came when he was writing down the ingredients and the procedure to making a potion they had to do. Everyone was getting out his or her cauldrons and ingredients out when Hermione's hand shot up. Snape didn't see her. She gave a little cough but still no response. "UMM Professor?" she asked. He turned around clearly annoyed. "Yes Granger" He answered through clenched teeth. "You made a mistake." She said to him looking him in the eye. Most people-who were listening- took their eyes off of whatever they were doing, forgetting to be stealth and they looked, no more of gaped at Hermione and they were all silent. Harry whispered to her, "Hermione not smart, don't do it" But that didn't work she didn't listen. She didn't want everyone to be failed by his stupid mistake. "What was that Granger?" He asked angrier than ever. "I said you made a mistake sir." she said more clearly and louder than before. "You aren't supposed to finely chop the bixleweed, you have to ground it into a fine _powder__" _She said putting extra emphasis on the powder. Professor Snape was just staring at her. He had a huge vain in the middle of his forehead that was popping out but most people were too scared to laugh. Then suddenly he yelled, "50 POINTS FROM GRIFFENDOR MISS GRANGER!" He took a breath and then said "and Detention for tonight, Now I suggest before you correct me again you think twiceyou are to be here at 4 o'clock sharp and no later." he finished with a wicked smirk. "But sir with all due respect, tonight is the ball and I was just telling you for the benefits of others." Hermione protested. Snape's smirk grew even bigger. "If you continue to talk I will make your detention even longer" She shut her mouth immediately with huge watery eyes. She sat down and discontinued to talk for the rest of the class. Harry tried to talk to her but all she did was sit there with a distant expression and still, with watery eyes.  
At the end of potions she didn't hand in the potion that they were doing and she rushed out of the class, not waiting for Harry, or Ron. She rushed through dinner without a word to anyone, and at four she was knocking on the door to Snape's office down in the cold dark dungeons. "Come in" He said and he entered the door quietly and discreetly entered the room. "Sit" he said pointing to an empty desk. She did. Snape went over to one of his many filing cabinets and took a stack of files.  
"First you will copy out these files into good copy, and then you will go into my store cupboard and take down all of the ingredients and dust them off and also the shelves." he paused to see if she caught all of that. Then he continued, " Then you will document all of the ingredients, and how much I have." He smirked again like he always does when he's happy. "I'm going to be here for the first hour because the dance doesn't start for that long, so use this time to copy documents." As he said this he sat down at his desk and began to look at a paper. Hermione got to work by grabbing the files and copying them down onto blank pieces of parchment.  
At three-quarters past 4, Snape got up abruptly. He pulled out his wand and conjured up a black mask. He tied it roughly around his head. Before he left he said, "Don't steal anything from my store cupboard!" and he left the room.  
At this point Hermione was still writing out documents, but due to the tears welling up in her eyes she had to stop and wipe her eyes on her sleeve. "Why did I have to open my big fat mouth?" Hermione said to herself and cried even harder. "Ooh miss shouldn't say that to herself, tis not true, your mouth is wonderful for knowledge." Hermione heard a familiar squeaky voice say to her. "Its just sometimes you have to let things go."  
She turned around in her chair and said "Dobby, what are you doing here?" "Well Dobby heard about your predicament miss, and Dobby's here to help" The former house elf of the Malfoys said. "What do you mean, how could you possibly help me?" Hermione asked wiping her eyes again. "Dobby will clear out the store cupboard for miss so miss can go to the ball." Dobby insisted. He took off one of the many hats Hermione had made a few years back and he handed her a tissue. Hermione muttered thanks and wiped her face. "Now Miss needs to get ready" Dobby said from the store cupboard. Dobby snapped his fingers and her dress and mask appeared. "You better get dressed miss, the dance has already started."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Harry walked around the Great Hall in his black tux and black mask looking for someone he knew or someone that he could dance with. He was planning to go safe and dance with Hermione, and there was nothing wrong with that. She was nice, pretty, and smart but also his best friend. If they weren't best friends he would defiantly consider going out with her, but if they did now that would just be awkward, but since she got in trouble with Snape she wasn't able to come to the ball, therefore unable to dance with him.  
Harry looked around to see if he could Ron who went off dancing with a girl in a white off the shoulder dress. Harry looked around more and spotted Ginny, well with her red hair it was kind of hard not to, not to mention the bright green emerald silk dress she was wearing which looked quite nice on her. She too was an option but that would be really weird because they had already gone out. They are still really good friends though, not as close as him and Hermione.  
The Great Hall doors opened and Harry turned around to see who was coming in late. It was a girl in a black silk dress with curly hair and a black and silver mask. Harry watched her look around anxiously as if she was looking for someone but couldn't find who they were looking for. The song ended and a new one was about to begin, so Harry thought 'why not' and decided to walk up to her and ask her to dance.

Hermione wondered where Harry was and if he was enjoying himself. Sure he must have danced with a few girls by now, she thought, because girls were usually attracted to his type. Tall, dark and Handsome is all Hermione needed to think, she could go on and on about all of the traits about him that girls like. The song had just ended and there was a tall figure that caught her eye. He was walking towards her. He stopped right in front of her and gave a tiny smile before bowing. "May I have the pleasure of dancing with you?" he asked her. 'SCORE!' Hermione thought as she was looking at the tall dark and handsome figure in front of her. "why yes you may" she responded with poise and composure even though her insides where leaping with joy.  
The song began almost immediately and they took their positions -waist, hand and shoulder, hand-. 'I don't know where Harry is right now but I'm sure he's having as much fun as I am' Hermione thought to herself.

Dancing with this mysterious girl was like dancing on cloud nine. He didn't know who this girl was but she had an elegance to her presence that Harry couldn't get enough of.

They danced non-stop for a few more songs and then they decided to go outside for a bit to get a breath of fresh air. The two walked down one of the paths in the garden lit by lanterns filled with fireflies. Once they got to the nearest bench with no one on it, they sat down. "who are you?" Harry questioned more to himself than to her. She looked up at him. "If I was to tell you that I would have to kill you." Harry gave a laugh and then looked into her eyes. There was something familiar about her eyes but he couldn't figure out who's they were. He must have been looking at her eyes for a long time because the girl asked, "what is there something on my face?" He snapped out of a trance and said "Ooh no I was looking at your eyes and they remind me of someone's" he said "who's eyes do they remind you of?" she questioned. "that's the thing, I don't know who's they remind me of." he said to her. "well how could they remind you of anyone's if you don't know who's eyes they remind you of?" She said to her. Now that Harry heard it, it did seem funny. "Well enough talk about my eyes lets get back in and dance!" she said hastily to him. "sure" he agreed and a few moments later they were back in the hall dancing.  
The two danced the whole night through, not dancing with anyone else, they seemed to be consumed with each other looking deep in each others eyes.  
The clock struck 12 and it was time to take off the masks. Hermione saw that the tall black greasy haired figure which was Snape was coming her way, to talk to an older lady, which was presumably Magonigall. "I'm going to my office now, I've got Granger in there cleaning out my store cupboard, I better go now, I think she's suffered enough" Snape said right beside Hermione. She started to panic. She stared over at her dancing partner and thankfully he didn't hear. "I'm sorry something came up and I have to go right away" Hermione insisted. "wait" he said grabbing her arm as she turned. "How will I know who you are? How will I contact you?" he said desperately wanting the girl of his dreams to unveil herself. "I don't know…Send an owl to the Griffendor girls tower sometime" she said in a rush. "your in Griffendor?" He asked surprised. "No…um I have a friend in there" she continued "ok I really have to go now" she said and gently but firmly pulled out of his grip and gave him a quick kiss and then turned and left. Harry stood there and whispered 'bye' even though she was already gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Hermione was starting to get worried now. Snape was way ahead of her, which was all the way across the Great Hall, and there was still the fact that she was still in her dress and mask.  
Everyone around her was taking off their masks, but she didn't see anyone that she knew because she was in such a rush that it didn't matter. Snape was going by the punch bowl now and Hermione seemed hopeless, but a moment later something miraculous happened. The punch bowl levitated and lifted over his head. A second later the bowl dumped right over his head. Hermione stopped for a second and rubbed her eyes didn't play tricks on her. Nope, Snape turned around in a rage. He looked around for someone that was running away or for someone that seemed to look suspicious. There was someone walking fast, pushing through people who had really blond hair. You guessed it Malfoy. But why would he do that to his beloved teacher? Hermione looked over the heads of some of the people and saw that Malfoy was going fast to try to catch a girl who was also walking fast to go outside. Snape must have thought that he was the convict so he started to chase him teeth clenched and sopping. Hermione was really grateful, and when she went by the table a lady winked at her. As Hermione glanced back when she was going out the door, she caught a glimps of bubble-gum pink hair sticking out of the back of the mask.  
Hermione ran all the way back to the dungeons. She barged into his office and grabbed her bag and quickly got dressed. She stuffed her dress and mask into the bag and quickly went into the store room to catch her breath. Snape came in a few moments later drenched in the sticky liquid. "GO NOW GRANGER!" he yelled, dismissing her. She left grateful that he hadn't come back sooner.

As she was coming up the stairs from the dungeon she could see everyone starting to leave the Great Hall. Over every one's heads Ron loomed over almost a head taller than most people, because he was so tall Hermione could find him easily so she steered herself towards him. Harry was with Ron and they were both walking and talking together until they saw their best friend walk towards them. "Hey Hermes" Ron said. Hermione glared at him. "You know how much I hate that nickname!" she told him. Ron just grinned. "Hey how was Snape?" Harry asked changing the subject. Hermione glanced around nervously looking for any evesdroppers or any teachers. Magonigall was right behind them so she decided to save the conversation until they reached the common room. "In the tower." Hermione said to them and they both knew that it was too good to be telling in front of everyone. They nodded and were silent until they reached the tower.  
When they got there, all three went to go and change into their pyjamas. As they came out they each chose their favorite squishy arm chairs by the fire and relaxed from a night of dancing. "So what did he make you do." Harry said "Well I had to copy out the documents like he did for you, which wasn't that bad. And then he told me that I had to clean out the store cupboard." She said to them. "And did you?" Ron asked. "Well not really, see when I thought I was hopeless Dobby came in and helped me, so I actually went to the ball." She said. Ron and Harry both looked really surprised. "Really? Are you serious?" Harry asked. "Yeah dead serious, and I tried looking for you guys except that I couldn't find you, and anyways I was busy…" She said not wanting to finish her sentence, even though she tells them everything. "OOH come on Hermione who's the lucky guy?" Harry asked. "I'm not telling you that, and besides he was wearing a mask so I wasn't able to see his face." "Well we unmasked so you must have figured out who he was." Ron told her. Hermione was starting to get a little annoyed. "That's the thing, I had to leave right before the unveiling so I didn't see who he was. I saw Snape leaving so I had to go." "Uh Huh, you just don't want to tell us who your secret love is do you." Ron said not believing her. "Oh yeah Ron I just don't want to tell you this one simple thing, and oh no we haven't been best friends for 7 years have we." Hermione said with sarcasm.  
There was silence for a while while people were still coming back from their night of dancing. When the common room cleared, Hermione asked, "So who did you guys dance with?" "Why should we tell you when you didn't even tell us who you danced with." Ron said to her. Hermione grabbed the nearest pillow and chucked that at him. "OOH come on, please, please, please!" When they didn't answer she gave them the puppy dog eyes. "Hermione stop you know the puppy dog eyes are too powerful!" Harry said grinning, and then both Ron and Harry threw a pillow at her. When they were finished their laughing, Hermione asked again. "Ok fine I danced with Lavender." Ron said to her, his ears going red. Harry grinned. "AWWW does ickle Ronnykins like Lavender?" he taunted. Ron's face turned as red as his hair. "NO!…uhhh… well…its just…UGH I'm going to BED!" He said and stormed off up the boys stairs. "OK well we know that that's a hot button issue with him, ill be sure to mention more of it" Hermione said to Harry and he laughed. "So then who did you dance with?" she continued. "I don't know, she said she had to go to the bathroom or something, but she left in a hurry so I didn't get a chance to see her." Harry said to her. "Huh" she said "I think you are just trying to copy my excuse exept mine isn't an excuse." she said smiling. "UH! Hermione I'm shocked that you would accuse me of stealing your excuse! You hurt your best friends feelings, tear!" Harry said mimicking a fake tear. "Oh boohoo here's the worlds smallest violen." she said and mimicked a voilen. "Well I'm bushed, I think I'm going to hit the hay, see you tomorrow." Hermione said and got up and stretched. Harry said goodnight, not realizing that she was the mysterious girl that he had danced with.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_'Hey since the ball I've been wondering who you are. Can we meet up sometime, like the next Hogsmade trip or something?  
Yours truly  
you know who.' _

Hermione had read this letter over and over in her head to the point of memerization. 'The person who sent this wants to meet ME' Hermione kept on telling herself, not believing that it was true, until she pulled the letter out of her pocket and read the scratchy handwriting on the mangy piece of parchment again.  
Of course Harry and Ron didn't need to know about this, but she needed to tell someone. They were her best friends though and she could confide in them with anything, but this didn't seem like something she could tell them, she didn't know why.  
Hermione was thinking of all of the stuff that she told them. She told them when she had cramps so they would leave her alone and give her some space, what underwear she was wearing, for some purpose she didn't understand, and they've all made a move on each other one time or another when they've had a little too much firewhishy to drink, but this was different.  
She needed a girl's advice, so she went to Ginny.  
"Hey Ginny, can I talk to you?" Hermione asked one of her closest girl friends. "Yeah whats up?" Ginny asked closing the magazine she was reading. "You know that guy I told you about from the dance?" she asked her roommate. "Yeah" Ginny responded. "Well he kinda sent me an owl," She said to her, handing her the note as she explained that she didn't know what to do. She read the note.  
When she finished Ginny handed the note back and simply said, "Go and meet him then." "Are you sure?" Hermione questioned. "Well how I see it is what harm could it cause? I mean, you may fall in love with this mysterious guy and spend the rest of your life with him and-" she was cut off by Hermione. "Ok, ok I think I get the point. Should I go and write back?" she asked. "YES go! You need to tell him where you are going to meet him." Ginny said. "Thank you Ginny for all of your help" Hermione thanked her as she got up. "Anytime" Ginny responded and she opened up her magazine as Hermione was walking out of the door.

'Hiya, why don't we meet in the Three Broomsticks, at the very start of the trip. I will be sitting in a window seat so look for me there. Cant wait to meet you'  
Sincerely, you know who  
Hermione finished the letter and sealed the envelope. She decided to take it up to the owlery and send it right away so then she may be able to get a response at night.  
Up at the owlery, she got through the door when she saw Harry standing there trying to coax his owl, which was up in the rafters, to come down.  
"Hey Harry," She said to him. He jumped and turned around. "Oh haha its just you Hermione, you scared me for a minute." He said. "Having troubles there?" She asked looking up at his owl. "Oh yeah, she's mad at me because I used a different owl to send a letter" he said. "Oh that's funny" Hermione said laughing a little. "So why are you up here?" Harry asked changing the subject. "Well what do you think, im sending a letter retard" Hermione responded, choosing one of the many tawny brown colored owls that the school supplied. Hermione got the owl down and tied the letter to his leg. "So who you writing to eh Hermione?" Harry asked, as she walked to the window. He came up behind her and tried to read the name on the envelope. "No one" she said instantly, almost as an automatic response. "OOOH seems like Hermione's gotten herself a secret lover!" Harry said laughing. "HA, HA real funny. For your information I was writing to my parents." She said and her face went a little bit pink. They both were heading to the door and as harry was laughing, he put an arm around her shoulders and sighed. "Ah Hermione, Hermione, Hermione. Why do you have to be so cute?" and they walked out of the door together, Harry's arm still around her and her face was even redder._  
_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

A few weeks went by and the Hogsmade trip was almost here. Everyone was exited to go to the little magical city- but no one was as exited as the two mysterious lovers, who incidently happened to be best friends, and didn't know it. Both were confiding their deepest feelings and secrets to their red-headed friends.  
They were sitting in the common room one Friday after school when Neville came bursting in with good news. "Hey! Guess what! Guess what!" He shouted as he ran in. Harry Ron Hermione, Ginny, Lavender, and Seamus all looked up from their homework. "Who? Loony Lovegood?" Seamus asked laughing. Neville's face went red and puffy. "As a matter of fact she's not loony" he said and stormed out. Seamus shouted after him, "I didn't mean that kind of loony!" but no good he didn't hear, he was already out of the portrait hole. They waited a little bit longer to make sure he was really gone and that he wasn't going to come back in and then they all burst out laughing. They didn't really mean it but the 6 just couldn't help themselves.  
Once everyone stopped laughing over that incident, they finished their homework and when they did that the Quiddich players who consisted of Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Seamus all grabbed their brooms and headed out to play Quiddich. It took a little persuation to get Hermione to come out and play, but in the end they got her to come.  
Everyone had a broom exept for Hermione and Lavender so the other 4 insisted that they double up with someone else. Ginny took Lavender on her Commet two-sixty and with a looooooooooooo…(exc) time of persuation from Harry, he finally got Hermione on his Firebolt.  
With a lot of re-assuring on Harry's part they were finaly in the air. Hermione was sitting in the front and Harry behind her. She was gripping the broom so tightly that even the worlds strongest man couldn't peel her fingers from the smooth, shiny, surface of the recently polished broomstick. Harry's arms were around Hermione and his hands were just above hers on the broom.  
Hermione was a little better because she knew that Harry was an experienced flier and he wouldn't let her fall. She was glad that Ron didn't volenteer to take her on his broom, otherwise she would be scared for her life, and god love Ron and all but no offence Hermione thought that he wasn't that good of a flier. He could barely keep himself on his broom let alone. When the game finally started it was actually fun on Hermiones part. It was fun passing the quaffle back and forth to each other to score a goal (they only had a quaffle because that's all they managed to jack from the storage room.)  
The six played until the sky started to get a rosy pink color. When they finally touch the ground, a few people who had come out to watch them stood up and started to exit the stands. Some of the others stayed, for they were there only as a private place that they could talk to their friends.  
When Harry landed on the ground in the middle of the Quiddich field, he was surprised to find that Hermione wasn't holding onto the broom still. She was smiling and pink in the cheeks. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "So you had fun did you?" she smiled. "looks like you're not afraid of heights anymore." "I had loads of fun and yeah" she smiled meekly. "I'm still afraid of heights, its just that I'm not so much anymore." Harry smiled and said. " Ah, its probably because of my superb flying skills isn't it?" "Oh yeah Harry, oh great holy flyer. I'm not worthy to be in your presence." she said and bowed. "Your just jelious" he said and them started walking to the castle. The 4 others were already way ahead.  
"Hey!" Hermione shouted. She ran up to him and jumped on his back. "Oi!" Harry said and laughed, so did she. He gave her a piggy back ride all the way back to the castle and up the stairs, into the common room couch where he dumped her and them fell onto another one. Hermione was shocked that he could actually carry her let alone up all those stairs. She kept on telling him to drop her if she got to heavy but he carried on.  
They rest of them must have been in their dorms getting their pyjamas on or something because Ron just came down and sat on Hermione's legs on the couch she was laying on. "oi get off!" she said to him "you massive elephant you weigh a ton!" she said to him and he moved off of her so she could move her legs. Then he sat back down again and she put her legs on his lap, which he didn't mind at all.  
Soon after the rest of the people joined them and they spent the rest of the time up talking, laughing, playing games, and just having fun, which they do on most other occations. It was around 1 am when Hermione, Ron and Harry dragged themselves to bed and said their goodnights to each other. Hermione looked in her dorm and Ginny and Lavender were sound asleep. Same for Harry and Ron. Neville, Dean and Seamus were all snoring their heads off and dean was half off his bed. Neville was drooling onto his pillow and Seamus, was the one who was snoring the loudest. Harry and Ron each pulled the covers on and it seemed as when they just put their head to their pillows they fell asleep.  
Hermione on the other hand stayed up just a few minutes later, thinking about meeting that guy in Hogsmade the next day. Soon though, her thoughts were cloudy and she couldn't keep her eyes open. She fell into a peacefull sleep with the faint deep breathing of Ginny in the background.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was the day of the Hogsmade trip and Hermione really exited to meet her masked dance partner, so was Harry.  
Hermione went down to breakfast and ate quickly, not seeing Ron or Harry anywhere, which was typical, they probably wouldn't be up for another hour or two. She walked to Hogsmade with Ginny and Dean. They parted when they reached the three broomsticks, because Ginny and Dean were going to the tea shop around the corner. Hermione went to the back of the pub and sat in the very back booth where she said she was going to meet this mysterious person and waited.   
Harry was walking to Hogsmade after a rushed breakfast and on the way he was thinking about the possibilities of who this mysterious girl could be. When he reached the Three Broomsticks he started to walk over to the back booth, to his surprise Hermione was sitting there looking at her nails. "Hey Hermione what are you doing here all by yourself?" Harry asked sitting down on the other side of the booth. "Oh hi Harry, I'm waiting for someone to meet me here" she said and then asked, "what about you" "same" he responded. "who are you meeting, Ron?" Hermione asked him, "No some girl that I met at the ball, she wouldn't tell me her name and we decided to meet here, and you?" he explained. "same" she said, 'this is strange' she thought. "Hey do you want a butterbeer?" Harry asked her. "yeah sure" she said and Harry got up and made his way to the counter where he payed for the two butterbeers. He came back and sat down, opening hers for her and then his. "thanks" she said and he nodded in acknowledgement.  
They sat and talked for a while, both looking up hopefully for someone who resembled their mystery date every time the bell rang when the door opened, no luck though.  
2 rounds of butterbeer and 3 shots of Firewhisky later no one had showed up and they were starting to get impatient. Harry pulled out the note that the girl had wrote him and opened it, checking to see that he got the date and place correct. "whats that?" Hermione asked. "Its just the note that she wrote me, I was checking that I havent read it wrong, because she hasn't shown up yet." He handed her the note, she looked at it and her eyes went big. "How did you get this?" she asked. "an owl delivered it to me yesterday." he responded. "Well It must have been a mistake" she insisted.  
"No, I'm pretty sure its not, why do you ask?"  
"Because Harry, I wrote this"

"You wrote this?"  
"Yes I think I'd know my own writing"  
"well theres only one way to confirm this" harry said and as if she read his mind she pulled out the note that he had wrote to her. "well this is kind of ackward" she said, "just a little bit" harry said and they were quiet for a minute.   
Harry was staring at her, 'how could I not have known that it was Hermione all this time' he thought to himself, 'the hair, the smile, the eyes the writing' he thought. "Harry?" Hermione asked waving a hand in front of his face. He snapped out of his thinking and then asked, "what?" "you were staring at me and freaking me out" she told him. "sorry I just cant believe that I didn't know it was you" Harry said. "yeah I know" she responded, "well I guess we're perfect for each other but we never relized it" Harry said. Hermione blushed. "I guess so" she said. "Hermione, theres only one thing left to do now" he said to her. "what?" she asked. He leaned over the counter and kissed her. "Well that was unexpected" she said once he leaned back and she opened her eyes. He smiled. "that was to get you back for the one you gave me at the dance." Harry said. "I guess that's fair enough" she responded. "so do you want to go and see where Ron and Lavender are or what?" Harry asked. "Sure" she responded and they got up and headed to the door. He opened it for her and she walked out with him following.  
They walked down the busy street for a while not talking. Hermione was biting her lip thinking, and Harry was being drivin' wild by her doing that. He didn't know why buy it was really cute. They got to the alley between the Honeydukes and the Zonko's joke shop. Hermione grabbed Harry and shoved him in the alley, and she started kissing him. Harry didn't know what was going on at first but soon found himself enjoying it. When he got really into it both heard a laugh commming from beside them. Both leaped apart from each other and saw Ron and Lavender standing there laughing. "we just came to find you but you seem pretty busy already" Ron said through laughter. Hermione was all red and flustered now and she looked at lavender and said, "umm Lavender can I talk to you for a minute?" and she walked off with her fast, harry held on to her hand for a moment before letting her go off with her friend and then ron raised an eyebrow, "so" he began, "Is this the mysterious girl you were talking about?" he asked. "yeah she is" he responded watching her talk to Lavender across the street. She was grinning the whole time and glancing back at Harry. "so you going out now or what" Ron asked. "I don't know she kind of jumped on me and then you walked in on us" Harry said. "well good thing or else you guys would have been doing things that this innocent crowd doesn't need to see, save it for your dorm" Ron said and winked as Hermione and Lavender came back. "Well do you guys want to go walk around now" Lavender asked. All agreed and they set off both couples holding hands as they walked to the ink and parchment shop. Hermione went with lavender and they looked around for new quills while Harry and Ron were trying out the testers. 'hmm' harry thought and ripped off a piece of unmarked parchment and wrote another note to give to Hermione.   
He folded it up and then walked over behind her and put it in one of her back pockets of her jeans. She turned around and gave an inquisitive look, but he didn't do anything. She opened it and it read, '_My dorm, 11:00 tonight?' _she grinned. Walking over to him she put her hand in his back pocket and whispered in his ear, 'your on' and then kissed his neck. He raised an eyebrow and Hermione smiled and took his hand, they continued walking around in that manner for the rest of the Hogsmade day, sneaking kisses to each other while their friends wern't looking.


End file.
